Someone we love, someone we've lost
by JourneyFawkes
Summary: What would have happened if Toph had never joined the gaang? What differences could it make? actually a Taang one-shot


**This was inspired because of all the awesome reviews I got for "Children just being children", no matter how short, they all make me very happy. X3**

**"**_**Someone we love, someone we've lost."**_

"Wait!" No matter how fast he ran, the girl was always able to get away.

Aang stopped and looked around; he spotted her a few feet away. She brought her hands to cover her mouth and giggled before running off again.

His mouth hung open for a second before a grin began to spread across his face. He took off after her and followed the sound of her laughter. He heard another laugh join hers and was surprised to find that it was coming from himself.

The girl stopped and Aang walked slowly towards her, hopping it would keep her from running. But suddenly she the girl just disappeared; he looked around confused, and felt his grin falter.

He had **lost** her.

When they had been in her parents private garden, he had actually felt his age. Being with Toph was almost natural; he didn't have to be the Avatar, just Aang.

She was cute. But that cuteness was deceiving, she was strong and even though she was blind, that girl could most certainly take care of herself.

She had proven it when they had been kidnapped.

But Toph's parents hadn't seen that. They had refused to let her travel with them and had forced them to leave.

He had waited on the hill overlooking the town; wishing, almost praying to hear her laughter and see her running up that hill.

Aang had never found another Earthbending teacher. Once, when they had met with the resistance army, Haru had been able to teach Aang the basics. But that was as far as they had gotten before the gang had left for Ba Sing Se.

When they had recovered Appa, the gang had split up. Katara had stayed to help with the invasion plans, Sokka had gone to meet with his Father, and Aang had left to see the guru.

When it had come time to open his cosmos chakra… it had been easy. Whenever he thought of Katara now a day, the face of a cute blind girl would appear instead and her giggles would ring in his ears.

If he couldn't even protect a small blind girl from her parents; how was he suppose to protect someone he thought he loved?

So he had given up any remaining feelings he had for Katara and was able to gain control over the Avatar state. This had eliminated his need for an Earthbending teacher till after the war.

When he had gone back to get Katara, Ba Sing Se had fallen. Luckily he had found her in the woods collecting firewood when he was planning how to get through the wall. He was surprised to find she was staying with their long time enemy, Zuko, and his uncle. But he was shocked to see Zuko unscarred.

She had been kidnapped and thrown in the same cell as the fire prince. She said they had begun talking and decided to escape together, using Firebending to slowly break through the first wall. Once they had made it into a room with water, Katara had been able to help and they had gotten out much easier.

Now he had a Firebending teacher and they left to retrieve Sokka.

But he had decided to stay with his Father. He had proven himself to be a valuable warrior when they had attacked a Fire Nation ship and they needed him.

The new group had continued on and Aang began his lessons in Firebending. They got frequent letters from Sokka, he explained the battle plans he had come up with for the Day of Black Sun:

Many resistance ships had been stationed outside Fire Nation prisons and others were scheduled to invade the Fire Nation. They were going to free as many rebels from the jails as possible to form a bigger army; at the capital, soldiers would infiltrate and abandon the destroyed ships, many by their own hands. They would live under fake names in the fire nation until the day of Sozens Comet, then the battle would begin.

During the wait for the Day of Black Sun Aang mastered Firebending and Katara had fallen in love.

Zuko had spent much of his time with the Waterbender, always doing things for her, as thanks for healing his scar. The two had slowly fallen for one another.

When the day of the eclipse arrived, the small group had entered the Fire Nation. Zuko and Katara had posed as a young married couple who had moved in with the groom's uncle. Aang was Zuko's younger brother who was already staying and working with their uncle while their parents fought in the war.

No one was able to recognize Zuko without his scar and Iroh made sure to stay in the tea shop with the other members of the White Lotus. Aang's hair had grown out and most of his tattoos were hidden, he hid the rest under a headband. Katara's story was that she had been taken captive and had been sent to "Lee" as a slave from his parents, but the two had fallen in love and been married. No one questioned it, the Fire users were known for their love of fiery romance, unlike the Airbenders, who liked secret, soft love.

They had lived there till the day of the Battle and had attacked during the coronation of the Fire Lord boarding his "Phoenix" ship. Aang had taken the Fire Lords bending and the Nation fell.

The young Avatar had gone to many Pease meetings and solved any rebellion problems for nearly four years. The day Zuko came of age and was crowned Fire Lord, peace finally seemed to settle in. Katara soon became Fire Lady and the Nation accepted her, they did like fiery romances after all.

Sokka had settled down too, when the resistance had set the rebles free, Suki had been found. Now Sokka was the chief for the Southern water tribe and was arranging for trade to open between the nations.

Aang had never taken another Earthbending teacher, the only element he hadn't mastered. Although many had come offering their skills to him, even Bumi had offered now, he had turned them all down. He had searched all the Towns he had to visit during a peace mission; he had never found her again. He only hoped that she had kept her rebelliousness.

Now he found himself sitting in the Omashu hall with King Bumi, surrounded by women.

The Earth King had convinced him to accept all the gifts people had been trying to throw at him for four years now, saying that if he hoped to recreate the Air temples he was going to need money. So today he had announced for anyone wishing to thank the Avatar to come to the kingdom. People from around the world had came baring gifts of gold and jewels, he was sure he would be able to build more temples at the rate things were going... until one man brought his daughter and offered her to Aang as a wife.

For the past two hours parents from all over the nation had come baring their daughters as suitors, mainly from high class families.

"Hey, she's pretty!" Bumi shoved Aang in the ribs playfully, whispering about the girl before them. He thought this whole ordeal was hilarious…

"She looks just like the others, and for the last time, I don't want to be married!" he whispered back and politely turned down the suitor.

All the girls looked the same; painted faces, hair done up, and the same hobbies. They were all just painted dolls.

"Well your sixteen Aang, you've finally turned of marring age, of course their going to bring their daughters! You're the Avatar! Next!" Bumi yelled. Aang suppressed a groan and bowed his head from the up coming headache.

"I can walk myself!" his head shot up. That voice… he knew it from somewhere.

Two guards entered, they were practically dragging a girl between them, and two richly dressed adults followed behind. They stopped a few feet in front of them and dropped her and the man spoke up.

"This is our daughter; we would like to offer to you as a maid."

Aang looked closely at the girl; her long black hair was draped down her back and bits fell over her shoulders, bangs covered her face. She had white lilies braided down her hair and wore a fancy white and light green dress that covered her hands. He could barely see bare feet poking out of the bottom of her dress.

One of the other girls must have seen them too, because he heard a rude comment directed towards the girl on the ground. Aang spotted her foot flick swiftly before the one who made the comment fell flat on her face from a section of the floor lifting on its own.

Then he heard that laugh; the laugh that had rung in his ears so many times, the laugh that grabbed his heart and made him want to laugh too, the pure laugh from the blind girl.

"T-Toph?"

The girl looked towards him, her milky green eyes staring at him, "Hello TwinkleToes."

Her parents gave a gasp, "P-Please excuse her manners Avatar! Even though she is blind, she is an Earthbender! She would make a good gardener or cleaning women!"

They would never talk of her bending before. Aang felt a smirk spread on his face, 'She must have kept her rebellion.'

Her parents stuttered things that Toph could do, but he didn't hear them. They must have been desperate to get rid of her if they were going to offer their once so protected daughter to him. The way they had dressed her made him wonder why she wasn't married already, she was very beautiful. The only reason he could think of was that Toph had showed her "bad manners" to the suitors they brought.

He could feel his laughter bubbling up inside of him, just like in the swamps and her mansion. She could make him feel so happy by just being near him.

They had powdered her face and put light green on her eyes. It looked like they had also painted her lips at some point, but she had apparently rubbed it off. She was still staring at him, like she was pleading him to help her.

He could. He could take her away from her parents now, she could finally teach him Earthbending, and she would be happy. He wanted to set her free… but what about after that?

"Right now the Avatar is looking at suitors, not hired help!" the inventory man spoke up.

Then it hit him.

Toph's parents looked horrified and Toph's face turned an adorable red.

"Ah, W-we- we'll j-just come back late-"

"I accept." Everyone stared for a moment, then her parents faces lit up.

"You won't regret it! She'll be a hard worker!" Aang raised a hand to silence them.

"No." Their faces faltered and he wanted to laugh. Toph's head tilted to a side. He realized she could have Earthbended out of there, but she knew he could set her free. He wondered if she thought he would abandon her again. He couldn't wait to see their faces after this statement.

"Toph Bei Fong, will you marry me?"

**Yeah…I have no idea where this came from! My imagination seems endless! It would be kinda cool to write this whole thing out into a big story, but then I would probably murder it! X3 They are just destined to be together! It wasn't that hard to rewrite the events and decide which ones change; they sorta just flowed out while I was writing. It wasn't pose to be this long! XD Please send a review about the parts you liked and pm if I did something wrong. Thank you always!**


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